Superstar9
04-28-2008, 06:08 AM
Well, I am having one of those Jerry Maguire moments….I’m about to write what could potentially save the sport from house league to the pros and put us back on track OR, it could piss off every manufacturer, rink owner, league owner, rep, tournament director, and pretty much get me black-balled from the sport for life. Well here goes…..
The sport is on a decline. The pros seem to be in chaos lately, house league numbers are down, and select people are making money while not seeing the big picture and realizing that their golden egg is rotting from within. All because they are in one way or another in a power struggle for supremacy in their particular field whether it be local rink, pro shop, equipment lines, tournaments, pro leagues, or governing body of the sport itself. Before I go on with any solutions, I want to say that I believe ALL of you care about the sport or you wouldn’t have invested your time and money in it. Below is a list of each type of person I believe is involved in our sport be it through business or pleasure, followed by a short description of what is wrong and what you can do to help OUR cause. Before anyone attacks me on my credentials or my intentions, I want 2 things to be known…I am working on a NON-PROFIT and It will require the help of many of the people I’m about to point out flaws in and possible solutions for. I have run rinks, played pro, and lived all over the country so I’ve seen many markets first hand. My life is 110% ROLLER HOCKEY.
PROBLEMS:
Rink Owners: your rinks aren’t getting the numbers you used to, entry level players are scarce and you know as well as I do that they are your future. The biggest problem you have is that the average kid doesn’t know anything about your sport. You can blame this on the fact that there is no HIGH level pro league on TV reaching out to the average American. You can also blame this on the fact that it costs a kid $100+ dollars to try a league or class in your building and it’ll cost them $400+ in equipment.
Tournament Directors: your customer base is even smaller than the rink owners because your customers are generally the elite 10% if not less of the house league player pools. If they keep shrinking, you’re only going to shrink as well until eventually the 80’s generation ages out of masters and you’re finished, hopefully for your sake you’ll retire before that happens.
Manufacturers: you guys are mutli-million dollar companies, you should know better by now that the sport is shrinking because I’d like to think you have people being paid to research the sport. You want to sell expensive equipment, GREAT…top level players will buy it. Trust me, I’m an idiot and buy $80 wheels every month and that $200 stick every couple weeks because they last as long as a loaf of bread. I can’t live without them. That’s all good. But you would make a lot more money if you sold more quantity and for that, you need more players to get into the sport and grow up and buy the expensive gear. That means they had to try the sport and not bankrupt their parents before they get old enough to buy the high end stuff.
Pro Leagues: Simply stop spending money on things that don’t help your overall product and image not to mention things the teams don’t NEED. You need to get on TV someday or the sport will never go main stream. You’re never going to get on TV without a great product. It needs to be professional looking from your top team down to your worst expansion club. It needs to be a UNIFORM PRODUCT. You’re only as strong as your weakest link. People aren’t talking about the amazing CS Thunder or Midwest Tornados…they’re talking about the Marple Gladiators not showing in CT last weekend or whatever the latest no-show by a team or ref was. We have to raise the minimum standard before we worry about the extravagant single events or players. After all, the masses of your league are flipping the bill, not the elite stars or final 4 teams.
Governing Bodies: I’m not quite sure what you guys do for the sport. You have good intentions with your insurance and all but really, I don’t know what exactly you help with. All I really know is that you charge X amount of dollars for a player to somewhat be covered and you send them a magazine. I don’t know what to say but this isn’t exactly my strongest knowledge category. I’ve pretty much managed to steer clear of this part of the sport all together because I’ve never seen much from them at the local level.
Pro Players: you are the nation’s elite roller hockey players. Congrats. Right now that’s worth about as much as a cup of water to a guy who’s on fire standing on the beach. Nobody knows about it and the people who do, don’t care that much. The majority of the players do ZERO other than help by showing up to play. You want your paid league or the satisfaction of being able to look back and say you did something? HELP OUT! Read your section below on how you can help. Maybe we’ll get that league before you collect social security.
I am starting a NON-Profit called “Project RH”, the company is geared toward building up the entry-level portion of the player population nationally. We need to build that because as everyone knows, it is the problem that will eventually kill the sport if it is not resolved. I will be calling on each and every one of you to help our cause and save our sport. Basically you’ll have 2 choices. Support us in saving the sport as well as the future of your business by contributing or participating in our programs that cost you little to NO money OR…. you can continue to suck the life out of the very thing that supports you and give nothing back. Please know that we will publicly make it known by starting an “Evil Company List” that we ask all players nationally to boycott. People have choices and they’re going to choose what helps them the most. Especially if they know that the company made the choice not to help even when it cost them very little or nothing. We are not playing around, we mean business. You all had your chance to do these things on your own and look what has happened. Now that time is over and the future must be secured for our sport before it is too late. Expect to eventually be sent a package explaining what “Project RH” is, how it works, and how you can help. You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution.
NOW….below is a list of things each type of person in this sport can help out with that will actually make a difference. It will help you and it will not cost much money if any. The list also contains things that you can do to help the sport outside of “Project RH”
The sport is on a decline. The pros seem to be in chaos lately, house league numbers are down, and select people are making money while not seeing the big picture and realizing that their golden egg is rotting from within. All because they are in one way or another in a power struggle for supremacy in their particular field whether it be local rink, pro shop, equipment lines, tournaments, pro leagues, or governing body of the sport itself. Before I go on with any solutions, I want to say that I believe ALL of you care about the sport or you wouldn’t have invested your time and money in it. Below is a list of each type of person I believe is involved in our sport be it through business or pleasure, followed by a short description of what is wrong and what you can do to help OUR cause. Before anyone attacks me on my credentials or my intentions, I want 2 things to be known…I am working on a NON-PROFIT and It will require the help of many of the people I’m about to point out flaws in and possible solutions for. I have run rinks, played pro, and lived all over the country so I’ve seen many markets first hand. My life is 110% ROLLER HOCKEY.
PROBLEMS:
Rink Owners: your rinks aren’t getting the numbers you used to, entry level players are scarce and you know as well as I do that they are your future. The biggest problem you have is that the average kid doesn’t know anything about your sport. You can blame this on the fact that there is no HIGH level pro league on TV reaching out to the average American. You can also blame this on the fact that it costs a kid $100+ dollars to try a league or class in your building and it’ll cost them $400+ in equipment.
Tournament Directors: your customer base is even smaller than the rink owners because your customers are generally the elite 10% if not less of the house league player pools. If they keep shrinking, you’re only going to shrink as well until eventually the 80’s generation ages out of masters and you’re finished, hopefully for your sake you’ll retire before that happens.
Manufacturers: you guys are mutli-million dollar companies, you should know better by now that the sport is shrinking because I’d like to think you have people being paid to research the sport. You want to sell expensive equipment, GREAT…top level players will buy it. Trust me, I’m an idiot and buy $80 wheels every month and that $200 stick every couple weeks because they last as long as a loaf of bread. I can’t live without them. That’s all good. But you would make a lot more money if you sold more quantity and for that, you need more players to get into the sport and grow up and buy the expensive gear. That means they had to try the sport and not bankrupt their parents before they get old enough to buy the high end stuff.
Pro Leagues: Simply stop spending money on things that don’t help your overall product and image not to mention things the teams don’t NEED. You need to get on TV someday or the sport will never go main stream. You’re never going to get on TV without a great product. It needs to be professional looking from your top team down to your worst expansion club. It needs to be a UNIFORM PRODUCT. You’re only as strong as your weakest link. People aren’t talking about the amazing CS Thunder or Midwest Tornados…they’re talking about the Marple Gladiators not showing in CT last weekend or whatever the latest no-show by a team or ref was. We have to raise the minimum standard before we worry about the extravagant single events or players. After all, the masses of your league are flipping the bill, not the elite stars or final 4 teams.
Governing Bodies: I’m not quite sure what you guys do for the sport. You have good intentions with your insurance and all but really, I don’t know what exactly you help with. All I really know is that you charge X amount of dollars for a player to somewhat be covered and you send them a magazine. I don’t know what to say but this isn’t exactly my strongest knowledge category. I’ve pretty much managed to steer clear of this part of the sport all together because I’ve never seen much from them at the local level.
Pro Players: you are the nation’s elite roller hockey players. Congrats. Right now that’s worth about as much as a cup of water to a guy who’s on fire standing on the beach. Nobody knows about it and the people who do, don’t care that much. The majority of the players do ZERO other than help by showing up to play. You want your paid league or the satisfaction of being able to look back and say you did something? HELP OUT! Read your section below on how you can help. Maybe we’ll get that league before you collect social security.
I am starting a NON-Profit called “Project RH”, the company is geared toward building up the entry-level portion of the player population nationally. We need to build that because as everyone knows, it is the problem that will eventually kill the sport if it is not resolved. I will be calling on each and every one of you to help our cause and save our sport. Basically you’ll have 2 choices. Support us in saving the sport as well as the future of your business by contributing or participating in our programs that cost you little to NO money OR…. you can continue to suck the life out of the very thing that supports you and give nothing back. Please know that we will publicly make it known by starting an “Evil Company List” that we ask all players nationally to boycott. People have choices and they’re going to choose what helps them the most. Especially if they know that the company made the choice not to help even when it cost them very little or nothing. We are not playing around, we mean business. You all had your chance to do these things on your own and look what has happened. Now that time is over and the future must be secured for our sport before it is too late. Expect to eventually be sent a package explaining what “Project RH” is, how it works, and how you can help. You’re either part of the problem or part of the solution.
NOW….below is a list of things each type of person in this sport can help out with that will actually make a difference. It will help you and it will not cost much money if any. The list also contains things that you can do to help the sport outside of “Project RH”